Rutherford's return to form. As I said before, Rutherford has a 45+ average so I cannot understand the haste to drop him. Sammy stayed with him and 55 was a welcome return to form. Something to build upon.

Our bowling was disciplined and had we taken those chances in the field we would have won that game.

Our lower order still continues their great form and 'never say never' attitude. Greaves 38 off 24 and 26 off 19 almost brought us back with 20 needed from the final over.

Negatives:

Our top order is still not firing. Athanaze continues to get starts then getting out to the sweep shot. Only this time he wasted a lot of balls but in his defense it was a tricky pitch with indifferent bounce but once he was set he needed to cash in. This is Keacy's first game of the tour, so understandable.

Ground fielding was good but our catching was again inconsistent. Mitchell was dropped on 19 and 67 although both difficult chances to Chase and Seales these are game-changers. Bracewell's miss-stumping and dropped catch were crucial as well although the catch did not cost us much. Need to tighten up a lot.

Should have is a win😀

@voiceofreason

Most fans don’t understand that T20 and ODI are two different formats that requires different approaches.

T20 is more about strike rate than average.

Whereas ODI is more like one day test match where you have more time to assess the situation.

@StumpCam

ODI cricket has changed a lot as 300+ totals have become the norm thanks to T20 cricket. However it all depends on the situation and we weren't chasing a massive score by any means so it needed for someone to occupy the crease for the other stroke players to play around him.

@voiceofreason

only one thing comes out of these recent games, is that, this team does not believe it can win in NZ, keep blowing all the freaking games at the end

these two guys have neither the average nor the strike rate…and not the mentality

how’s that for a trifecta

we can dress up format nuances in fancy clothes all we want…you need to score runs and have limited overs and time in which to do so!

@bird

Well we are getting ourselves in position so that is a start. The wins will come eventually.

@voiceofreason

Lack of fitness

Poor fielding

Poor team selection....layne should have played over springer ...he is quicker

Lots of poor body language on field

@voiceofreason

The wins will come eventually.

Yeah, like sometime around the end of next month. Like Santa thay come once a year .......🎄

@voiceofreason

The weather played a big role, as the day progressed, the winds became more intense, causing the temperature to dip,

the people in the stands, had to wear winter rackets.

I don’t know about you guys but I grew up watching New Zealand kick our asses every time we played them especially in NZ so I’m actually surprised and happy that they’re actually competing and the games are this close!!! Hoping we can get a win!!!

@WIfan26

Even in our Heyday we struggled vs New Zealand in New Zealand. One can recall Holding kicking down the stumps in frustration. The real test will come in the Test series but I like what I am seeing with the white ball team. Need to get some wins. Win one game or the series will be a huge boost heading into the Test

series which will feature some of these same players.

@StumpCam

And who are these persons you speak of???

Positives are we continue to compete, much to my surprise. Negatives are we continue to come second, not to anyone's surprise. We are seeing the difference between a team accustomed to winning and one accustomed to losing. We continue to rally!!!!!!!

@voiceofreason

Poor, poor example. Holding was frustrated by very obvious and smug teefing. Late 90's to 2000's make more sense. When you don't win ones you could and should then opponents become more confident start playing a better game and blow you away. Giving away that game is the road to a big series loss